Can Vietnam Achieve One of its Millennium Development Goals? An analysis of schooling dropouts of children

The objectives of this study are to identify the underlying determinants of the schooling dropout in Vietnam and to project its trend in the future up to 2015. Our examination is largely based on the three Vietnam’s Living Standard Surveys conducted in 1992/93, 1997/98 and 2001/02 and the conventional framework of educational investment at the household level. The major determinants of the schooling dropout choice by households are found to be variables of child’s characteristics (such as age, working time, primary education, and number of siblings) and household economic situation (such as parental education, household’s per capita expenditure, and cost of schooling). In general, the effects of these determinants on the schooling dropout probability are statistically significant. In particular, the schooling dropout probability has been very sensitive to the changes in the household’s per capita expenditure and the direct costs of schooling, whereas recently the other determinants have had only minor impacts. In terms of schooling, girls have benefited more than boys did from their household's per capita expenditure increase, while they have suffered more than boys did from an increase in the direct cost of schooling. These differences, however, recently have narrowed substantially. The dropout situation is also regional specific and hence, a comprehensive approach is needed to deal with it. Moreover, at present the low quality of education is serious problem. Together with the parents' incorrect perception of and the community’s attitude to education values, this may increase the possibility of children’s schooling dropout. The dropout situation is also very much dependent on the public funding for education, which is still not effective in reducing the household current excessive financial burden and still biased against the poor regions. The projection outcomes of the schooling dropout probability of children in the future up to 2015 is very much depending on the assumptions of the changes in the household’s per capita expenditure and the cost of schooling. When the growth rate of the cost of schooling is much higher (for example, by 1.2 percentage points) than that of the household’s per capita expenditure, the dropout rate would first decrease and increase again after 2010. The tentative assessments suggest that in these cases, there is a chance for Vietnam to achieve the national targets of the primary and lower secondary net enrolment rates in 2010. However, Vietnam could very hardly to achieve the MDG on the universal completion of primary education in 2015 and moreover, the achievements recorded by 2010 would be deteriorated. Regarding the scenarios, where the pace of changes in the cost of schooling is lower than that of the household’s per capita expenditure, the projections seem to provide a rather bright picture in terms of achieving the national education targets in 2010 and the MDG on education in 2015. The projections also show that there is a reason to be more optimistic about the elimination of the gender gap in education by 2010.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40162/3/wp776.pd

Can Vietnam Achieve One of its Millennium Development Goals? An analysis of schooling dropouts of children

The objectives of this study are to identify the underlying determinants of the schooling dropout in Vietnam and to project its trend in the future up to 2015. Our examination is largely based on the three Vietnam’s Living Standard Surveys conducted in 1992/93, 1997/98 and 2001/02 and the conventional framework of educational investment at the household level. The major determinants of the schooling dropout choice by households are found to be variables of child’s characteristics (such as age, working time, primary education, and number of siblings) and household economic situation (such as parental education, household’s per capita expenditure, and cost of schooling). In general, the effects of these determinants on the schooling dropout probability are statistically significant. In particular, the schooling dropout probability has been very sensitive to the changes in the household’s per capita expenditure and the direct costs of schooling, whereas recently the other determinants have had only minor impacts. In terms of schooling, girls have benefited more than boys did from their household's per capita expenditure increase, while they have suffered more than boys did from an increase in the direct cost of schooling. These differences, however, recently have narrowed substantially. The dropout situation is also regional specific and hence, a comprehensive approach is needed to deal with it. Moreover, at present the low quality of education is serious problem. Together with the parents' incorrect perception of and the community’s attitude to education values, this may increase the possibility of children’s schooling dropout. The dropout situation is also very much dependent on the public funding for education, which is still not effective in reducing the household current excessive financial burden and still biased against the poor regions. The projection outcomes of the schooling dropout probability of children in the future up to 2015 is very much depending on the assumptions of the changes in the household’s per capita expenditure and the cost of schooling. When the growth rate of the cost of schooling is much higher (for example, by 1.2 percentage points) than that of the household’s per capita expenditure, the dropout rate would first decrease and increase again after 2010. The tentative assessments suggest that in these cases, there is a chance for Vietnam to achieve the national targets of the primary and lower secondary net enrolment rates in 2010. However, Vietnam could very hardly to achieve the MDG on the universal completion of primary education in 2015 and moreover, the achievements recorded by 2010 would be deteriorated. Regarding the scenarios, where the pace of changes in the cost of schooling is lower than that of the household’s per capita expenditure, the projections seem to provide a rather bright picture in terms of achieving the national education targets in 2010 and the MDG on education in 2015. The projections also show that there is a reason to be more optimistic about the elimination of the gender gap in education by 2010.Vietnam, education, MDGs

The Impact of Increased Import Competition from the People’s Republic of China on Income Inequality and Household Welfare in Viet Nam

This paper examines the surge of imports from the PRC to Viet Nam from 2000 to 2014 in order to evaluate the effects of increased exposure to trade with the PRC on income inequality and household welfare in Viet Nam. Using household level data from the Viet Nam Household Living Standard Survey and combining it with measures of trade exposure, we find that increased imports led to a fall in inequality at the provincial and district level. We distinguish between intermediate and final goods and find similar results. In order to better understand the relative gains and losses across income groups, we apply a quantile regression approach. Our results indicate that increased imports were more often positively correlated with household income for households located in the lower quantiles. In contrast, for households in the upper quantiles the correlation is either negative or less pronounced

Individual subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper examines how contextual and institutional factors are associated with individual subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data collected in China, Korea, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) in April 2020, we found that the financial effects (represented by employment and income change) and non-financial effects (representing by experiencing negative feelings and enjoying positive activities) of the pandemic are associated with individual wellbeing. Moreover, the degree to which people agree with their government’s approach to COVID-19 is positively correlated with their happiness. The risks associated with the pandemic, however, are only slightly associated with people’s happiness. We also found that the correlation between above factors and individual wellbeing varied from country to country

ベトナムにおける中小企業の発展

政策分析プログラム / Policy Analysis Program政策研究大学院大学 / National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies論文審査委員: 園部 哲史（主査）, 田中 誠, 松本 朋哉, MUNRO, Alistair, 澤田 康幸（東京大学

First report and new molecular and morphological characterizations of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica, infecting ginger and long coriander in Vietnam

Ginger (Zingiber offcinale Roscoe) and long coriander (Eryngium foetidum L.) are commonly grown and used as important spices and medicinal plants in Vietnam. Our study recovered for the frst time one of the most damaging tropical root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne javanica, associated with these plants in the Western Highlands of Vietnam. In this study, M. javanica was characterized based on morphology and molecular characterization of D2-D3 fragment of 28S rRNA, ITS, and Nad5 mtDNA regions. The identifcation of this species was done based on a combination of morphology, multiplexPCR with specifc primer, network haplotype analysis, and PPNID program

Seasonal Prediction of Surface Air Temperature across Vietnam Using the Regional Climate Model Version 4.2 (RegCM4.2)

To investigate the ability of dynamical seasonal climate predictions for Vietnam, the RegCM4.2 is employed to perform seasonal prediction of 2 m mean (T2m), maximum (Tx), and minimum (Tn) air temperature for the period from January 2012 to November 2013 by downscaling the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS) data. For model bias correction, the model and observed climatology is constructed using the CFS reanalysis and observed temperatures over Vietnam for the period 1980–2010, respectively. The RegCM4.2 forecast is run four times per month from the current month up to the next six months. A model ensemble prediction initialized from the current month is computed from the mean of the four runs within the month. The results showed that, without any bias correction (CTL), the RegCM4.2 forecast has very little or no skill in both tercile and value predictions. With bias correction (BAS), model predictions show improved skill. The experiment in which the results from the BAS experiment are further successively adjusted (SUC) with model bias at one-month lead time of the previous run showed further improvement compared to CTL and BAS. Skill scores of the tercile probability forecasts were found to exceed 0.3 for most of the target months

Gem corundum deposits in Vietnam

Since 1983, gem-quality rubies have been recovered from the Luc Yen and Quy Chau mining areas in northern Vietnam. Since 1991, 'basaltic'-type blue-green-yellow ('BGY') sapphires have been mined in southern Vietnam. This article briefly reviews the history and geology of these different areas and shows the importance of marble and basalt-type deposits. Other types of corundum occurrences are found in amphibolite, pegmatite, gneiss and metasomatite. The gemmological, chemical and isotopic characteristics of these different types of corundum are described.<br /> The most notable features of rubies contained in marbles are that many crystals have blue colour zones, and inclusions of rutile, anhydrite and salts. The primary fluid inclusions are composed of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide with native sulphur and diaspore daughter minerals. Sapphires from placers in basalts are characterized by inclusions of columbite, pyrochlore and baddeleyite. The trace element contents of corundums allow distinction of rubies in marbles from sapphires in basalts and metamorphic rocks. Rubies have high chromium (0.54<Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub><O.66 wt.%)and low iron (0.01<FeO<0.07 wt.%) contents. The geological origin of Vietnam corundums can be clearly determined from the isotopic composition of their structural oxygen, i.e. δ 18O = 21.0 ± 0.9% for rubies in marbles and δ 18O = 6.6 ± 0.4% for sapphires in basalts